A CLASH that resulted from an incident of the harassment of a group of women at Kendua in Netrakona on June 10 has left a man, in his early forties, dead and five others wounded. Reports have it that a group of women of a family were on their way back home after bathing in a pond beside their house in the afternoon when a group of five young men approached...
A SUDDEN increase in dengue cases, especially outside Dhaka, warrants early and effective intervention. Directorate General of Health Services on June 10 reported a record 288 dengue cases, the highest daily tally so far. What is further worrying is the high infection rate outside Dhaka. More than 95 per cent, or 276 out of the 288 reported cases, came from outlying...
WORKER rights in Bangladesh continue to remain unprotected as reported in the most recent Global Rights Index of the International Trade Union Confederation. This is disconcerting. In the index made public on June 2, Bangladesh is ranked among the 10 worst countries with a score of 5, suggesting that the country has no guarantee for worker rights. For nine consecutive...
TENSION along Bangladesh鈥檚 borders with India and Myanmar continues to escalate amid a series of troubling incidents, including push-ins, border killing by India鈥檚 Border Security Force and landmine explosion and abduction by Myanmar鈥檚 rebel group Arakan Army. The persistent pattern of abuse and violence against Bangladeshis in the frontiers remains a matter of grave...
HORRIFYING details of enforced disappearances and custodial torture in secret detention centres that the deposed Awami League government had for long denied have been substantiated in the second report of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances set up in August 2024. The commission in the report submitted on June 4 said that more than 300 victims of...
THE chief adviser to the interim government Muhammad Yunus in an address to the nation on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha has announced that the general elections would be held any day in the first quarter of April 2026, noting that the Election Commission would announce a road map to the elections at an appropriate time. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the major political...
EID comes every time with some concern for the authorities to attend to. It is mostly the safety of people when they leave the capital city for outlying areas before Eid and when they get back to the city after Eid. So many people travelling at a time burdens the transport network and the system, with traffic accidents taking place, causing fatalities and injuries. The burden...
FLOODING from incessant rain caused by the recent depression in the Bay of Bengal has remained somewhat unchanged while the government鈥檚 disaster management and relief efforts are barely visible. Four of the five north-eastern rivers that were flowing above their danger marks further swelled, as the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre reported in its last cycle on June...
ALL political parties want a road map for the next general election, regardless of their disagreement over the precise date. All the parties at a meeting of the national consensus commission have demanded an election road map. The chief adviser has stood his ground that the election will be held between this December and June 2026 after reforms for a democratic transition...
THE budget for the 2026 financial year that the finance adviser to the interim government has proposed appears rhetorical, with largely no direction on how to achieve the goals that the budget puts forth. The interim government, which assumed office in August 2024 against the backdrop of a student led mass uprising that had sprung from protests against...
THE death toll from disasters caused by the latest depression from the Bay of Bengal has already climbed to 15, while the government鈥檚 disaster management and relief efforts are not visible. On June 1, landslides killed four members of a family in...
THE delay in resolving the crisis that has engulfed the Dhaka South City Corporation and resulted in the suspension of public services is gravely concerning. Supporters of Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Ishraque Hossain 鈥� including members of...
MEDICAL services at the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital, or the National Eye Hospital that provides all types of eye care, have been stalled since May 28. The situation has been so deplorable that the ministry of health has offered an apology and requested patients to seek treatment in other health facilities. Security people deployed there are reported to...
THE recent surge in violence against women perpetrated by Islamist groups or mobs acting as 鈥榯awhidi janata鈥� alongside the government鈥檚 failure to adequately respond is gravely concerning. After the July uprising, in which women and girls from diverse backgrounds actively participated and which they often led, it was hoped that women鈥檚 democratic aspirations...
AN ACUTE gas crisis has severely affected industries and households in Dhaka and elsewhere. The supply of gas plummeted on May 29 after imported liquefied natural gas unloading had been suspended because of inclement weather. The power sector on May 27 received 941.3mmcfd of gas against the demand for 2420.9mmcfd while the fertiliser sector received...